
Glass 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




George Mason 

OF GUNSTON, VIRGINIA 

1 725-1 792 



GEORGE MASON 

OF VIRGINIA 



AN ADDRESS 



BY 



LEWIS H. MACHEN 



PRESENTING A 

PORTRAIT TO FAIRFAX COUNTY 

MAY 20th, i go i 



COPYRIGHTED, 1901, BY BYRON S. ADAM* 



|THE LIBHAH* 
CONGRESS, 
T *o Coww Received j 

SEP. 20 1901 

COPVRIQHT ENTRY 

clTss"- XXc, n 



COPY 'J^ 



PRESS OF BYRON S. ADAMS. 



f 




INTRODUCTION 

HIS speech of Mr. Machen is such a com- 
plete summary of the life, character and 
works of George Mason, and the occasion 
of its delivery one so interesting, not only 
to the relatives of all the distinguished 
men whose portraits were presented, but to all Virginians 
who love their State and are proud of her history, that an 
apology for this effort to preserve the record in more per- 
manent form is scarcely needed. 

It was desired to have the entire record of that occasion, 
including all the speeches and all the portraits, gathered into 
one volume. But finding this too large an undertaking, I 
leave it to some future historian of the records of old Fairfax. 

At the request of several representative members of the 
family, this work is undertaken primarily for the purpose 
of placing in the hands of every descendant of Mason a re- 
liable sketch of their ancestor, of whom most of them know 
very little beyond the name. 

It is hoped that many who read this will seek to study 
his history more fully in that admirable biography written 
by Miss Kate Mason Rowland, and published in 1892 by 
Putnam's Sons, to which work we are indebted for most of 
the data in this booklet. 

In his eloquent introduction to Kate Mason Rowland's 
life of George Mason, General Fitzhugh L,ee says : ' ' He 
was indeed the people's man in a people's government. The 

[3] 



tent of his faith was pitched upon the bed-rock of the free- 
dom of the citizen. Great was his belief in the security of 
a purely republican form of government. Sublime was his 
reliance in the power of the people. 

' ' This life of Mason is proper and opportune. A 
period in our history has been selected to which we should 
more frequently recur, by calling attention to the services 
of a man with whose career we should become more famil- 
iar. * * * ' The people should control the Government, 
not the Government the people ', was his war cry." 

The assembling of their delegates in Richmond to revise 
and alter the constitution of their State gives to the people 
of Virginia a peculiar interest in reviewing, at this time, 
the lives and works of the ' ' master-builders ' ' who, in those 
early days, framed the first constitution of this good old 
commonwealth. 

Judge Goode, the chairman, in his admirable address 
at the opening of this convention, on the 12th of June, is 
reported thus : 

' ' It has been said that the greatest of all builders are 
the builders of states. The time has been when Virginians 
were recognized as master-builders in the work of framing 
constitutions. They promulgated the first written consti- 
tution for a free and independent commonwealth ever known 
to mankind. The convention which framed that constitu- 
tion met in the old Colonial Capitol at Williamsburg on the 
6th day of May, 1776. 

It was composed of men whose names are linked with 
immortality ; men who will be held in grateful remembrance 
by their admiring countrymen as long as liberty shall have 
a votary upon earth. It is no exaggeration to say that the 
Declaration of Rights, drawn by George Mason and adopted 
by that convention, is the most complete summary of the 

[4] 



Rights of Men and the principles of free government that 
has ever been furnished to the world. ' ' 

May God grant that the convention over which Judge 
Goode so ably presides be guided to frame for the Old State 
a constitution worthy of her history and founded on the 
everlasting principles of right and justice. 

Mason appears nowhere greater than in his opposition 
to the Federal Constitution. 

His unerring judgment, his wonderful foresight and 
his keen power of analysis are nowhere more clearly to be 
seen than in his arguments against certain clauses of the 
Constitution proposed by the Philadelphia Convention. 

Mr. Machen has given some attention to the ' ' Slave 
Trade ' ' clause which was opposed by Mason. I want to 
direct particular attention to that clause because it is usually 
supposed to have been a concession to the South. Historians 
treat it in that way, and a text-book on the Constitution 
which I have recently seen is misleading. 

In Mrs. Archibald Dixon's "True History of the 
Missouri Compromise and Its Repeal" — a most interesting 
and instructive book, which everyone should read — there is 
a full account of this matter. It may be summed up thus : 
South Carolina and Georgia wanted the Slave Trade con- 
tinued for twenty years. The New England States wanted 
to defeat a proposed clause requiring two-thirds majority in 
Congress to pass Commercial and Navigation laws. These 
States agreed to vote with South Carolina and Georgia for 
the continuance of the Slave Trade, provided the latter 
would vote with them against the " two-thirds majority " 
clause. Virginia and the other Southern States voted 
against this combination and were defeated. 

To obtain the Slave Trade South Carolina and Georgia 
voted against their real interest and were vastly losers in 
the long run. 

[5] 



The Northern majority, prudently preferring profits to 
principles, procured for themselves, by their votes, advantages 
which enabled them to coin millions of money — and not the 
least of these was the privilege of carrying on the Slave 
Trade for twenty years. 

Mason denounced this bargain as the plague spot of all 
evil, which was to bring ruin upon the country. For this 
and other reasons he refused to sign the Constitution. 

B. R. M. 



[6] 



PREFACE 

On Monday, May 20, 1901, a number of portraits of 
distinguished former residents of Fairfax County, Virginia, 
were presented to the county and hung in the court-house. 
This was the culmination of a movement which had been 
inaugurated about a year previous. At a meeting of the 
Fairfax bar held in the spring of 1900 Messrs. R. Walton 
Moore and R. K. Thornton and Mrs. Joseph K. Willard 
were appointed a committee to secure the portraits, in which 
they were successful. 

The ceremonies attracted quite a number of visitors from 
a distance, and a large and representative gathering of county 
people filled the court-house to overflowing. Hon. James 
M. Love, Judge of the County Court, and Hon. Charles B. 
Nicol, Judge of the Circuit Court, presided simultaneously. 
On motion of Mr. R. Walton Moore the ordinary business 
of the Court was laid aside for the special business of the 
day. The following portraits were then presented, the 
speeches of presentation being made by the gentlemen 
named : 

General George Washington, by Mr. R. E. Lee, Jr., of 
the Washington bar ; Judge John Webb Tyler, by General 
Bppa Hunton, of the Warrenton bar ; Judge Henry W. 
Thomas, by Judge James Keith, of the Court of Appeals ; 
Colonel George Mason, by Mr. Lewis H. Machen, of the Fair- 
fax bar ; Lords Thomas and Bryan Fairfax, by Mr. Albert 
Fairfax, of the New York bar ; Clerk F. D. Richardson, by 
Mr. R. Walton Moore, of the Fairfax bar ; Judge D. M. 
Chichester, by Mr. Lewis H. Machen, of the Fairfax bar ; 

[7] 



General Walter Jones, by Mr. Joseph Packard, of the 
Baltimore bar. 

These speeches were published in the Fairfax Herald of 
May 24th and 31st, 1901. For the sake of greater perma- 
nence some members of the Mason family determined to pub- 
lish Mr. Machen's address on George Mason in the present 
form, with an Appendix, which it is hoped will add interest 
to the publication. As the address has been delivered once 
and published once, it has been thought best to reproduce it 
here substantially as it was delivered. 



[8] 



ADDRESS 




May it please the Court : 

N behalf of members of the Mason family I 
desire to present the portrait of their 
ancestor, George Mason, of Gunston Hall. 
I share the keen regret of those present 
jV ^ ^83 1 that Mr. Justice Harlan, who was expected 
f^^ltoJ^Srrr to P resent tn ^ s portrait, is prevented by 
the business of the Supreme Court from 
doing so. As a member of his law class some years ago I 
had the pleasure of hearing him lecture on George Mason, 
and I can assure you that by his absence you are deprived 
of a rare treat. 

Being called upon at a few days' notice to perform a task 
which had been allotted to Judge Harlan, to discourse before 
such an assembly, after such distinguished speakers as you 
have just heard, upon such a theme as the life and character 
of George Mason, I remind myself of a canoe upon which 
has suddenly been unloaded the cargo of an ocean steamer. 
I am simply foundered, as it were, and overwhelmed by the 
burden. Though naturally complimented by this commis- 
sion, I accepted it with reluctance, hoping that the gener- 
erous indulgence you have shown me on former occasions 
would be shown again to-day. 

Now, regarding one of the donors of this portrait, at 
whose stubborn insistence I have placed myself in this em- 
barrassing situation, just to get even, I will make a remark 
that I know he will not approve ; that it is altogether ap- 
propriate that he should have his name coupled in this man- 
ner with that of his distinguished relative. For the found- 
ing and upbuilding of a young ladies' seminary, the teaching 
of the feminine idea to shoot, is as noble (I will not say as 

[9] 



difficult) a task as the planting and rearing of a republic. 
And the time may come when the memory of George 
Mason, of Gunston Hall, may not wholly eclipse the mem- 
ory of Beverley Mason, of Gunston Institute. 

Meagre Data 

It is a strange and melancholy fact that of George Mason, 
that illustrious, Fairfaxian, that giant figure of Colonial and 
Revolutionary Virginia, that great American, who became 
a national character as soon as this country became a nation, 
there is not much known. The first biography of him was 
issued from the press just one hundred years after his death. 
While the public libraries groan beneath the lives and writ- 
ings of a host of his contemporaries, this single work, by 
one of his devoted relatives, Miss Kate Mason Rowland, is 
all that a whole century has given us of him. His grand- 
son, George Mason, contemplated a biography and wrote 
for data to President Madison, who replied that " it was to 
be regretted that, highly distinguished as he was, the memo- 
rials of his services on record or perhaps otherwise attainable, 
were more scanty than those of many of his contemporaries 
far inferior to him in intellectual powers and public services." 
Many subsequent attempts to write his life proved abortive, 
and were much hindered by several destructive fires in which 
valuable papers were lost. 

George Mason wrote no autobiography, like Franklin and 
Jefferson ; he kept no journal, like Washington and Adams ; 
he never published essays on government and kindred top- 
ics, like Hamilton and Madison ; he declined to sit in either 
the Senate or the House of Representatives, where his 
speeches would have been fully reported ; he was never in 
the presidency, where his utterances would have been care- 
fully prepared and permanently preserved ; he was never 
the avowed leader of a party whose members would have 
had a personal interest in idealizing his character and prop- 
agating his teachings. Many of his great efforts, not being 
recorded, were forgotten with the occasion that called them 
forth. His speeches were made chiefly in the Virginia As- 
sembly where no record of them was kept, and in the con- 
stitutional conventions of Virginia and the United States at 

[io] 



Philadelphia, of which the record is very imperfect. Aside 
from these, the memorials of his work are a small pamphlet 
on Virginia charters, the Fairfax County Resolves, the 
Virginia Bill of Rights, the first draft of the first Constitu- 
tion of Virginia, his summary of his objections to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, his will, which is recorded in 
that clerk's office, and his correspondence, a large part of 
which has been collected by Miss Rowland. But these are 
enough to secure for him a high place in the pantheon of our 
immortals. He was careless of his own fame ; his friends 
and immediate descendants, who should have taken pains to 
preserve it, did not, and more recent histories, written and 
published at the North, by people who did not relish some 
of his teachings, and who had other heroes nearer home to 
celebrate, have not assigned him to his proper place. May 
this first public recognition of his greatness, in this county 
where he lived and which he served so many years, be the 
forerunner of many testimonials of like character until 
finally a noble monument be here raised to show the world 
that though the Republic may be ungrateful, Fairfax County 
is not. May the splendid biography of Miss Rowland be the 
first of a long series of works which shall teach the people of 
this country their debt of gratitude to this illustrious com- 
moner and place his fame above all cavil, where it may be 
seen of all the world. 

To know and understand a man's life, to estimate the 
character of his work and to measure its worth, one must 
know the source from which he sprung and the surround- 
ings amid which he lived. The twin forces of heredity and 
environment must first be taken into account. 

Ancestry 

The George Mason of whom I am speaking was the fourth 
of that name since the family was transplanted from Eng- 
land to America. Tradition says that the first George fled 
from England in 165 1, after the battle of Worcester, in 
company with many other cavaliers, the faithful but dis- 
pirited adherents of Charles II. He landed at Norfolk, 
came up the Potomac and settled at Accohick, near Pasby- 

[11] 



tanzy, where he spent the rest of his days. It must have 
been a rude transition from the high civilization to which 
he was accustomed to what was then a magnificent wilder- 
ness, filled with savage beasts and scarcely less savage men. 
But the family appeared to prosper. After the Restoration 
they received large land grants, were active in business, 
prominent in negotiations with the Indians, held offices of 
importance, grew in wealth and influence and, though aris- 
tocrats, showed democratic tendencies in their modes of 
thought and life. Our Fairfax statesman was born at what 
is now Mason's Neck, in this county, but was then a part 
of Stafford, in 1725. When he was ten years old he lost his 
father by drowning, and being the oldest son, as the law 
then was, he inherited the entire estate, which was very 
considerable. His mother, though a young and beautiful 
woman when left a widow, never married again, but devoted 
herself to the care of her children and her property, which 
she did most successfully. From her our statesman must 
have inherited much of his sound business sense and other 
characteristics. It is a common saying that a man of genius 
usually inherits it from his mother, from which we are led 
to infer that if such men are so scarce it is mainly because 
great women are not more numerous. 

Domestic Life 

Whether young George had a tutor at home or attended 
a school in the neighborhood is not known. Certain it is 
that he never went to college. Probably his uncle by mar- 
riage, John Mercer, who was a distinguished lawyer of that 
day and one of his guardians, directed the boy's studies. 
At any rate none can read Mason's writings without per- 
ceiving the depth and breadth of his scholarship. Upon 
attaining his majority he appears to have left his mother's 
house and established a home for himself in Mason's Neck, 
to which four years later he took his sixteen-year-old bride, 
the beautiful and charming Miss Anne Eilbeck, the only 
daughter of a wealthy neighbor. About this time he erected 
the historic mansion, Gunston Hall, named for the old 
home of his ancestors in Staffordshire. Young, handsome, 

[12] 



wealthy, happily married, surrounded by congenial friends 
among the Colonial gentry, devoted to the cultivation of his 
large estate, surely he had all that could make life serene 
and joyous. His studies and business cares were relieved 
by hunting, fishing and sailing, and we are told that he was 
the best shot and keenest sportsman of his neighborhood. 

He was one of the presiding justices of the county ; was 
vestryman of Pohick Church ; was a member of the Board of 
Trustees of Alexandria ; represented Fairfax County in the 
Virginia Assembly. In 1762 he lost his mother and eleven 
years later his devoted wife, to whose memory he has left a 
tribute which deserves a permanent place in marital litera- 
ture. She must have been a woman of firmness as well as 
gentleness. One of her children recording his recollections 
of her said that she was fond of horseback riding and kept a 
small green riding whip, which she sometimes used for other 
purposes and which the children respectfully called the 
1 ' green doctor. ' ' 

In 1780, George Mason married Miss Sarah Brent, a lady 
of fifty, who survived him. The children of his first mar- 
riage were five sons and four daughters, all of whom lived 
to maturity. He seems to have been greatly beloved by his 
family. His letters to his sons and daughters breathe a 
paternal devotion which is truly beautiful. 

Among his descendants have been numbered one United 
States Senator, James Murray Mason, of the Mason and 
Slidell Trent affair, and many others prominent as educators, 
lawyers, ministers and business men. Indeed, if George 
Mason had been distinguished for nothing else, the number, 
high character and personal attractiveness of his posterity 
would be sufficient to make him famous. 

Early Politics 

His character as patriot, statesman and political philoso- 
pher will now be noticed as briefly as the interest and im- 
portance of the subject will permit. It has already been 
seen that George Mason's ancestors, though devoted to the 
cause of royalty and loyally attached to the ancient govern- 
ment of Great Britain, were also devoted to the principles of 

[13] 



liberty. This fact inclined the second George Mason to the 
popular side in Bacon's Rebellion. Our Virginia statesman 
inherited this instinctive love of justice and hatred of 
oppression, and doubtless received instruction in political 
philosophy from those who had received it from his father 
and grandfather, and certainly his own reading and reflec- 
tion had embedded it deep in his mind. The funda- 
mental principles of human freedom, of which he became 
one of the first if not also the greatest expounder upon this 
* continent, early engaged his attention. He was seven years 
older than George Washington, whom he became acquainted 
with when Washington was 18 years of age, and with whom 
he was intimately associated before either began to play his 
great part upon the theatre of the Revolution. We have 
seen that both represented Fairfax County in the Virginia 
Assembly ; both witnessed the encroachments of Great 
Britain upon the liberities of the colonies, and together they 
earnestly discussed the best means of preserving these 
threatened liberties. In 1769 Mason drew up the famous 
non-importation resolutions, which were presented in the 
Virginia Convention by Washington, and unanimously 
adopted. One of these resolutions pledged the colonists to 
purchase no slaves that should be brought into the country 
after November first of that year. 

Fairfax Rksolvfs 

But on July 18, 1774, one of the greatest events that ever 
transpired in America occurred at the county seat of this 
! county, which was then Alexandria. This was the adoption 
of the celebrated Fairfax County Resolves. George Wash- 
ington was chairman of the meeting, and Robert Harrison 
secretary. George Mason wrote the resolutions throughout, 
which were twenty-four in number, and which were unan- 
imously adopted. This was the first clear and emphatic 
statement of the rights of the colonies, and I can give no 
idea of their tremendous significance except by quoting in 
full several of these resolutions. The first was : " Resolved, 
That this Colony and Dominion of Virginia cannot be con- 
sidered as conquered territory ; and if it was, that the present 

[14] 



inhabitants are the descendants not of the conquered but of 
the conquerors. That the same was not settled at the na- 
tional expense of England, but at the private expense of the 
adventurers, our ancestors, by solemn compact with, and 
under the auspices and protection of, the British crown, upon 
which we are in every respect dependent as the people of 
Great Britain, and in the same manner subject to all his 
Majesty's just, legal and constitutional prerogatives. That 
our ancestors, when they left their native land and settled in 
America, brought with them (even if the same had not been 
confirmed by charters) the civil constitution and form of 
government of the country they came from ; and were, by 
the laws of nature and nations, entitled to all its privileges, 
immunities, and advantages which have descended to us their 
posterity, and ought of right to be as fully enjoyed as if we 
had still continued within the realm of England. 

"Second. Resolved, That the most important and valu- 
able part of the British Constitution, upon which its very 
existence depends, is the fundamental principle of the peo- 
ple's being governed by no laws to which they have not 
given their consent, by representatives freely chosen by them- 
selves ; who are affected by the laws they enact equally with 
their constituents ; to whom they are accountable, and 
whose burdens they share ; in which consists the safety 
and happiness of the community ; for if this part of the con- 
stitution was taken away, or materially altered, the gov- 
ernment must degenerate either into an absolute and des- 
potic monarchy, or a tyrannical aristocracy, and the free- 
dom of the people be annihilated." 

I defy all literature to produce a clearer statement of this 
political truth, and I challenge any historian to show any 
earlier announcement of it on American soil. 

"Fifth. Resolved, That the claim lately assumed and 
exercised by the British Parliament of making all such laws 
as they think fit, to govern the people of these colonies, and 
to extort from us our money, without our consent, is not 
only diametrically contrary to the first principles of the con- 
stitution, and the original compacts by which we are de- 
pendent upon the British crown and government ; but is 

[15] 



totally incompatible with the privileges of a free people and 
the natural rights of mankind, will render our own legisla- 
tures merely nominal and nugatory, and is calculated to re- 
duce us from a state of freedom and happiness to slavery 
and misery. 

" Sixth. Resolved, That taxation and representation are 
in their nature inseparable ; that the right of withholding 
or of giving and granting their own money is the only effectual 
security to a free people against the encroachments of despot- 
ism and tyranny ; and that whenever they yield the one 
they must quickly fall a prey to the other." 

The seventeenth resolution which follows shows the 
thought and feeling of Virginia statesmanship on the subject 
of the slave trade : ' ' Resolved , That it is the opinion of this 
meeting that during our present difficulties and distress no 
slaves ought to be imported into any of the British colonies 
on this continent ; and we take this opportunity of declar- 
ing our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put 
to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade." 

Soon after this, similar resolutions, written by Thomas 
Jefferson, were adopted by the county of Albemarle. 

Bill of Rights 

In the last Colonial Assembly in Virginia prior to the 
Revolution, George Mason represented Fairfax County- 
Bancroft says of him that he held most sway over the minds 
of the convention. Here it was that he drew up the im- 
mortal Bill of Rights which, with few changes, was adopted 
by the convention, and which is in effect a part of every 
constitution in the land to-day, and part of which is em- 
braced in the first ten amendments to the Constitution of 
the United States. 

In a general way most of us are familiar with the Bill of 
Rights, but it is so complete and symmetrical a statement of 
fundamental principles and is so obviously a forerunner of 
the Declaration of Independence that I cannot forbear quot- 
ing it at length, just as it came from the head and hand of 
George Mason : 

" A Declaration of Rights made by the representatives of 
the good people of Virginia, — assembled in full and free 

[16] 



Convention, which Rights do pertain to them and their pos- 
terity as the basis and foundation of Government. 

" i. That all men are created equally free and independent 
and have certain inherent natural rights, of which they can- 
not by any compact deprive or divest their posterity ; among 
which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means 
of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and 
obtaining happiness and safety. 

"2. That all power is by God and Nature vested in, and 
consequently derived from the people ; that magistrates are 
their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to 
them. 

"3. That Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the 
common benefit, protection and security of the people, na- 
tion or community. Of all the various modes and forms of 
Government, that is best which is capable of producing 
the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most 
effectually secured against the danger of maladministration ; 
and that whenever any government shall be found inade- 
quate or contrary to these purposes, the majority of the 
community hath an indubitable, unalienable and indefeasi- 
ble right, to reform, altar or abolish it in such manner as 
shall be judged most conducive to the public weal. 

' ' 4. That no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or 
separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but 
in consideration of public services ; which not being de- 
scendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator 
or judge to be hereditary. 

"5. That the Legislative and Executive powers of the 
State should be separate and distinct from the Judicial ; and 
that the members of the two first may be restrained from 
oppression by feeling and participating the burthens of the 
people, they should at fixed periods be reduced to a private 
station, and return into the body from which they were 
originally taken and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, 
certain and regular elections. 

' ' 6. That Elections of members to serve as representatives 
of the people in the Legislature, ought to be free and all 
men having sufficient evidence of permanent common 

[i7] 



interest with, and attachment to, the Community, have the 
right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their 
property for public uses, without their own Consent, or that 
of their Representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to 
which they have not, in like manner, assented for the com- 
mon good. 

' ' 7. That all power of suspending Laws, or the Execution 
of Laws, by any Authority, without the Consent of the 
Representatives of the people, is injurious to their Rights, 
and ought not to be exercised. 

" 8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions, a Man hath 
a Right to demand the Cause and Nature of his Accusation, 
to be confronted with the Accusers and Witnesses, to call for 
Evidence in his Favour, and to a speedy Trial by an impartial 
Jury of his Vicinage, without whose unanimous Consent 
He cannot be found guilty, nor can he be compelled to give 
Evidence against himself ; and that no Man be deprived of 
his Liberty, except by the Law of the Land, or the Judg- 
ment of his peers. 

"9. That excessive Bail ought not to be required, nor 
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 
inflicted. 

"10. That in Controversies respecting property and in 
suits between Man and Man, the ancient Trial by jury is 
preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred. 

"11. That the Freedom of the Press is one of the great 
Bulwarks of Liberty, and can never be restrained but by 
despotic Governments. 

" 12. That a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body 
of the people trained to Arms, is the proper, natural, and 
safe Defence of a free State ; that standing armies, in Time 
of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to Liberty ; and 
that, in all cases, the Military should be under strict subor- 
dination to, and governed by the Civil power. 

" 13. That no free Government, or the Blessing of Liberty, 
can be preserved to any people, but by a firm Adherence to 
Justice, Moderation, Temperance, Frugality and Virtue, 
and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. 

[18] 



" 14- That Religiou, or the Duty which we owe to our 
Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed 
only by Reason and Conviction, not by Force or Violence, 
and therefore that all Men should enjoy the fullest Tolera- 
tion in the Exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates 
of Conscience, unpunished, and unrestrained by the Magis- 
trate ; unless under Colour of Religion, any Man disturb 
the Peace, the Happiness, or the Safety of Society ; and that 
it is the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian Forbear- 
ance, IyOve and Charity towards each other." 

Mason, in a note to the original draft, said that a few 
changes were made by the Virginia Convention, some of 
them not for the better. A comparison with the present 
Bill of Rights in the Constitution of Virginia will show that 
a number of changes have been made by subsequent con- 
ventions, some of them decidedly for the worse. 

During the Revolution 

Jefferson was eighteen years younger than Mason, and no 
one who is familiar with the teachings of the Sage of Mon- 
ticello can doubt that he had drunk deep of the fountain of 
knowledge and wisdom which he found in the Sage of 
Gunston. 

Like Washington and many of the patriots of that day, 
Mason long hoped for a reconciliation with the mother 
country. The Fairfax Resolves declared the reports of a 
desire for independence to be malicious falsehoods. Mason 
hoped that the non-importation resolutions, by giving a 
blow to British trade, would compel the British Ministry to 
treat the Colonies with justice. But when it was seen that 
nothing remained but a choice between submitting to 
tyranny or a submission of the controversy to the arbitra- 
ment of the sword, he threw himself, heart and soul, into 
the struggle, and helped to glorify the name of rebel. Dur- 
ing the Revolution he was almost constantly a member of 
the Virginia Assembly. He was also instrumental in raising 
troops and provisions. But this was the period when he 
was a widower, and he devoted as much time as possible to 
the care of his helpless little family. When in 1777, having 

[19] 



declined to allow his name to be proposed for Congress, he 
was elected in spite of his refusal, he went before the 
Assembly and gave the domestic reasons which forced him 
to decline in such touching terms that the whole body was 
profoundly impressed and tears streamed down the face of 
the presiding officer. His lingering at home to look after 
his family more than once caused him to be brought to the 
Assembly in the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. But when 
once in the Assembly he was immediately put upon the 
most important committees and performed the most valuable 
services. Of these services I have not time to speak, but 
must proceed to notice the part he played in the convention 
which framed the Constitution of the United States. 

Constitutional Convention 

No one can get an adequate idea of the conspicuous and 
impressive part played by George Mason in the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1787 without reading the Madison Pa- 
pers and Elliot's Debates. And even in these there is 
scarcely more than a summary of the earnest, profound, 
wise and patriotic speeches that he made day after day upon 
almost every subject which came up for discussion. Virginia 
was represented in that convention by George Washington, 
George Mason, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madi- 
son, George Wythe and James McClurg. Patrick Henry 
had declined an appointment, and Thomas Jefferson was in 
Europe. Washington presided and took little part in the 
debates. Madison was young, and at that time was inclined 
to the Federalists, though he afterwards became Republican. 
It will thus be seen that George Mason was the most promi- 
nent and potential member of the Virginia delegation on 
the floor of the Convention. Unquestionably, he was the 
most ardent champion of the people and the strongest friend 
of republican government, as we now understand it, in that 
wonderful assembly. He had to combat the powerful and 
astute influence of Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur 
Morris, who were strongly imbued with monarchical tenden- 
cies and fearful of confiding much power to the people. I 
believe it may be said that Mason stood more nearly than 

[20] 



any of the rest where Jefferson would have stood if he had 
been present. I believe also I do no injustice when I say- 
that the earliest effective advocate of democratic principles 
in America after the Revolution was not Jefferson, but 
Mason. 

Pros and Cons 

In the main, then, he insisted strenuously upon broadening 
the base of the National Government, and placing the pillars 
of our political structure upon the people as the only sure 
foundation. I have not time to point out the modes in which 
he proposed to accomplish this object. I will mention some 
of the contrary tendencies which he opposed. He opposed 
a single executive, as likely to bring about finally an elective 
monarchy. If there was to be but one man, he wished him 
to be chosen for a term of seven or eight years and to be 
ineligible to re-election. Washington's example in declining 
a third term has made it an unwritten amendment that no 
man shall serve as President longer than eight years, else 
Mason's fears might have already been realized, (nor is it yet 
too late for such a catastrophe.! He proposed an Executive 
Council to advise with the President, for he feared if such a 
cabinet were not provided, the President would select one 
from the heads of the Departments, which would be one of 
the worst that could be devised, because they could screen 
one another in case of malfeasance. Mason also opposed the 
provision for the Vice President, saying that he was a use- 
less officer and probably foreseeing that he would usually be 
a nonentity. He protested against his presiding over the 
Senate, thus mixing the executive and legislative depart- 
ments, and always giving some State an undue advantage 
and three votes in case of a tie. 

As treaties were made the supreme law of the land he 
opposed giving the President and Senate the right to make 
them ; since the executive and one branch of the legislative 
department would then have the power of legislation to the 
exclusion of the popular branch. He opposed giving the 
Senate the power of originating money bills. He feared that 
the Senate would become an aristocratic body and he 
thought the pursestrings should not be placed in its hands. 

[21] 



He urged that the House of Representatives should be 
elected by the people of the States and from separate dis- 
tricts in the States to prevent rich men, who could not be 
elected at home, from buying up boroughs as they did in 
England. He insisted upon its being plainly stated in the 
Constitution that the powers not therein granted were re- 
served to the States. 

He favored the militia but opposed standing armies in 
time of peace. He did not wish to see the President com- 
mander-in-chief of the army and navy, lest he might have 
the power some time, if so inclined, to make himself dictator 
or emperor. He endeavored to provide against every form 
of oppression. When treason against the United States was 
defined to be adhering to their enemies, he thought that 
form too vague and added the words ' ' giving them aid and 
comfort." 

He thought that tariff bills and commercial measures 
generally should require a two-thirds vote of both branches 
of Congress, because he saw that the majority section in 
such legislation would always discriminate against the 
minority. He said "The gentleman has shown us that 
though the Northern States had a most decided majority 
against us, yet the increase of population among us would, 
in the course of years, change it in our favor. A very sound 
argument indeed, that we should cheerfully burn ourselves 
to death in hopes of a joyful and happy resurrection." 
Verily, from that day to this we of the South have been 
burning our monej 7 upon the altar of this tariff legislation 
by the majority, yet we have never seen it ascend except in 
the smoke of the northern factories. 

He opposed every form of monopoly. He opposed some 
features of the Federal judiciary on the score of the great 
expense to poor litigants, a most disinterested attitude con- 
sidering his own wealth. He opposed counting all the 
slaves in the representation because he thought it unfair, 
although such a mode would have given Virginia the 
advantage. 

He opposed the general welfare clause which he called 
"the sweeping clause," because he thought it would be 

[22] 



seized upon as the excuse for the despotism of Congress. He 
opposed the Federal power to regulate elections because he 
saw in it a menace of the force bills which have since 
threatened us. He said that the States were not free when 
their right to choose their own representatives could be 
interfered with. 

The Slave Trade 

But his most notable protest was against the clause which 
allowed the importation of slaves until the year 1808. We 
have seen his opposition to the slave trade in the Fairfax 
Resolves as far back as 1774. In the convention he said, 
" Mr. Chairman, this is a fatal section, which has created 
more dangers than any other. The first clause allows the 
importation of slaves for twenty years. Under the royal 
government this evil was looked upon as a great oppression, 
and many attempts were made to prevent it ; but the inter- 
est of the African merchants prevented its prohibition. No 
sooner did the Revolution take place than it was thought 
of. It was one of the great causes of our separation from 
Great Britain. Its exclusion has been a principal object 
of this State and of most of the States of the Union. The 
augmentation of slaves weakens the States, and such a trade 
is diabolical in itself and disgraceful to mankind ; yet, by 
this constitution, it is continued for twenty years. As 
much as I value a union of all the States, I would not ad- 
mit the Southern States into the Union, unless they agree 
to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it 
would bring weakness and not strength to the Union. And 
though this infamous traffic be continued, we have no 
security for the property of that kind which we have 
already. There is no clause in this constitution to secure it ; 
for they may lay such a tax as will amount to manumis- 
sion. And should the government be amended, still this 
detestable kind of commerce cannot be discontinued till 
after the expiration of twenty years ; for the fifth article, 
which provides for amendments, expressly excepts this 
clause. I have ever looked upon this as a most disgraceful 
thing to America. I cannot express my detestation of it. 
Yet they have not secured us the property of the slaves we 

[23] 



have already. So that they ' have done what they ought 
not to have done and have left undone what they ought to 
have done. ' ' ' Let it be remembered that upon this point he 
was answering Mr. Sherman, of Pennsylvania, who favored 
the clause as it stood. 

Though Mason elsewhere expressed his disapproval not 
only of the slave trade but of slavery, saying that it would 
bring the judgment of Heaven on a country, though he was 
a large slaveholder, yet he was not an abolitionist in the 
modern sense. He saw that slavery would weaken and 
probably destroy the Union — as it came near doing — yet he 
thought the question should be dealt with upon a property 
basis. And what a saving of blood and treasure would 
there have been had his advice been followed ! He did not 
sympathize with the squeamishness of Northern statesmen 
about recognizing property in slaves. For if slaves were 
such property as the Northern people could sell, surely they 
were such property as the Southern people could buy and 
hold. And he saw that forcible manumission would be con- 
fiscation, which, unless justified by the necessities of war, 
would be robbery. 

There is a striking bit of history which he gives us as ex- 
plaining how this clause came to be adopted as well as certain 
other clauses which he deemed inexpedient. When this 
clause was under consideration Gouverneur Morris remarked 
' ' these things may form a bargain among the Northern and 
Southern States." The bargain was made and kept. Mason 
said, in a speech in the Virginia convention : " I will give 
you, to the best of my recollection, the history of that affair. 
This business was discussed at Philadelphia for four months, 
during which time the subject of commerce and navigation 
was often under consideration, and I assert that eight States 
out of twelve, for more than three months, voted for requiring 
two-thirds of the members present in each house to pass 
commercial and navigation laws. True it is that it was after- 
ward carried by a majority as it stands. If I am right there 
was a great majority for requiring two-thirds of the States in 
this business, till a compromise took place between the North- 
ern and the Southern States, the Northern States agreeing 

[24] • 



to the temporary importation of slaves and Southern States 
conceding in return that navigation and commercial laws 
should be on the footing on which they now stand. If I am 
mistaken let me be put right." Washington speaks of this 
transaction as " a dirty bargain." Thus were the Northern 
States partly responsible for the continuation of the slave 
trade for twenty years, against the protest of George Mason. 

L,ast Days 

When the Constitution was completed, Mason and Ran- 
dolph, of Virginia, and Gerry, of Massachusetts, refused to 
sign it. Returning to Virginia, Mason, as we all know, op- 
posed its ratification by the State, on the grounds I have 
mentioned and because it contained no bill of rights. 
Whether he was wise in this .we cannot know. The at- 
tempt to hold a new convention might have destroyed the 
hope of a successful union ; or it might have produced a 
union that would not have been shaken by civil war, and 
one less capable of abuses than that which we now have. 
However that may be, Mason was overruled by his State, 
the Constitution was ratified, and he returned to his home, 
for which he had eagerly longed, to spend the rest of his 
days in quiet and retirement. Governor Beverley Randolph 
appointed him to fill the unexpired term of William Gray- 
son in the Senate, but he declined the appointment and 
James Monroe was appointed in his stead. But his race was 
almost run, and having long suffered from the gout, he was 
attacked in 1792 by fever and died at Gunston Hall, where 
he was buried, in the 67th year of his age. Some of the 
newspapers of the day contain brief notices of his death. A 
modest stone, erected a few years ago by his descendants, 
marks his grave. 

Estimates 

Such is an imperfect outline of this scholar, orator, 
patriot, this master-builder of States, this devoted and dis- 
interested friend of human freedom. John Adams wrote 
of him, " I have often heard from the best patriots of Vir- 
ginia that Mr. George Mason was an early, active, and able 
advocate for the liberties of America. ' ' No doubt Wash- 

[25] 



ington was one of bis informants. Madison said that Mason 
sustained throughout the proceedings of the constitutional 
convention the high character of a powerful reasoner, a pro- 
found statesman, and a devoted republican. Jefferson, who 
came peculiarly under the power of his influence, who vis- 
ited him constantly, the last time but a few days before 
Mason's death, wrote of him : " He was a man of the first 
order of wisdom among those who acted on the theatre of 
the revolution ; of expansive mind, profound judgment, 
cogent in argument, learned in the lore of the former consti- 
tution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic 
principles." William Wirt said, speaking of the great con- 
stitutional convention : " The Roman energy and Attic wit 
of George Mason were there." John Randolph of Roanoke 
greatly admired him, and in the Virginia constitutional con- 
vention of 1829 used to attend daily with crepe on his hat 
and sleeves, ' ' in mourning, ' ' he said, ' 'for the old constitution 
drawn by George Mason." 

Patriotic Opinions 

That he was an unselfish patriot none can deny. Though 
the Revolution, as he tells us, cost him ten thousand pounds 
sterling he did not hesitate to inaugurate it. Though he 
was one of the heavy losers by the non-importation resolu- 
tions, he advocated them. Though loving his home life 
well enough to refuse to go to the House and the Senate, yet 
he left it when he thought he could serve his country better. 

When in the Philadelphia Convention there was some talk 
of adjournment, he said that "it could not be more incon- 
venient for any gentleman to remain absent from his private 
affairs than it was for him, but he would bury his bones in 
this city rather than expose his country to the consequences 
of a dissolution of the Convention without anything being 
done." Writing to Washington about the non-importation 
Resolutions, he says : ' ' Our all is at stake, and the little con- 
veniences and comforts of life, when set in competition with 
our liberty, ought to be rejected, not with reluctance, but 
with pleasure." 

He anticipated Washington and Jefferson in opposing 
foreign alliances. In a letter to his son, who was in Paris 

[26] 



after the Revolution, lie said : "We reflect with gratitude on 
the important aids that France has given us ; but she must 
not, and I hope will not, attempt to lead us into a war of 
ambition or conquest, or trail us around the mysterious circle 
of European politics." In the instructions to Fairfax 
County's delegation in the Assembly, which are accredited 
to Mason, it is said : "Nature having separated us, by an 
immense ocean, from the European nations, the less we 
have to do with their quarrels or politics, the better." 

Though a member of the aristocratic class, he was thor- 
oughly democratic, had a passionate devotion to republican 
government, and strenuously opposed whatever " squinted " 
in the opposite direction. Speaking of the re-eligibility of 
the President, he said : " Nothing is so essential to the pres- 
ervation of a republican government as a periodical rota- 
tion. Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the 
interests of his constituents as the certainty of returning to 
the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, 
where he must participate their burdens." He said again : 
"We know the advantage the few have over the many. 
They can with facility act in concert and on a uniform 
system ; they can join, scheme and plot against the people 
without any chance of detection." In speaking of the or- 
ganization of Congress, he said that " we ought to attend to 
the rights of every class of the people. He had often won- 
dered at the indifference of the superior classes of society to 
this dictate of humanity and policy, considering that, how- 
ever affluent their circumstances or elevated their situations 
might be, the course of a few years not only might, but cer- 
tainly would, distribute their posterity throughout the 
lowest classes of society. Every selfish motive, therefore, 
every family attachment, ought to recommend such a sys- 
tem of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights 
and happiness of the lowest, than of the highest, order of 
citizens." In 1775, in an address to the Fairfax company 
of militia, Mason said : "We came equal into this world, 
and equal shall we go out of it. All men are by nature born 
equally free and independent. Every society, all government, 
and every kind of civil compact, therefore, is, or ought to be, 

[27] 



calculated for the general good and safety of the community. 
Every power, every authority vested in particular men is, or 
ought to be, ultimately directed to this sole end ; and when- 
ever any power or authority extends further, or is of longer 
duration than is in its nature necessary for these purposes, 
it may be called government, but it is in fact oppression. 
In all our associations, in all our agreements, let us never 
lose sight of this fundamental maxim — that all power was 
originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the 
people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it 
on as an armor. ' ' And this before the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was thought of. 

There are not many better statements of the value of suf- 
frage than he has given us. ' ' The essential difference 
between the citizens of a free country and the subjects of 
arbitrary or despotic governments, or, in other words, be- 
tween freemen and slaves, consists principally in this : 
That the citizens of a free country choose the men who are 
to make laws for them, and are therefore governed by no 
laws, but such as are made by men of their own choosing, 
in whom they can confide, who are amenable to them ; and 
if they abuse their trust can be turned out at the next elec- 
tion. But the subjects of arbitrary governments having no 
such right of suffrage, in electing their own lawmakers, are 
governed by laws made by men whom they do not choose, 
who therefore are not amenable to them, over whom they 
have no control, in whom they have no confidence, with 
whom they have no common interest or fellowship. Hence 
proceed partial and unjust laws, oppression and every spe- 
cies of tyranny. From these premises it is evident that this 
right of suffrage, in the choice of their own lawmakers, is 
the foundation and support of all the other rights and privi- 
leges of freemen. And whenever they shall be deprived of 
it, all their other rights and privileges must soon moulder 
away and tumble to the ground. Whenever it shall be im- 
paired and weakened, all the other rights and privileges 
of a free people will be impaired and weakened, in the same 
proportion. And whenever, under any pretence whatever, 
the substance of this fundamental and precious right of suf- 

[28] 



frage shall be so far undermined or invalidated as to leave 
the name or shadow of it only to the people, from thence- 
forward, such people will possess only the name and shadow 
of liberty, which, without the substance is not worth pre- 
serving." 

The oft-quoted advice to his sons, contained in his will, 
drawn in 1773, is worth quoting again : 

"I recommend it to my sons from my own experience 
in life, to prefer the happiness of independence and a 
private station to the troubles and vexation of public busi- 
ness, but if either their own inclinations or the necessity of 
the times should engage them in public affairs, I charge 
them on a father's blessing never to let the motives of 
private interests or ambition induce them to betray, nor the 
terrors of poverty and disgrace or the fear of danger or of 
death, deter them from asserting the liberty of their country 
and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred 
rights to which themselves were born. ' ' 

His literary powers, as shown by his letters and other 
writings, would have made him immortal if he had devoted 
himself to literature. Madison declared that his conversa- 
tion was a feast. One fine specimen of his wit has been pre- 
served. When his opponent for the Assembly charged that 
George Mason was losing his mind, he retorted that if his 
adversary's mind should fail, nobody would discover it. 

Physique 

To his other attractions were added a magnificent physique. 
A portrait of him made in 1750, with his lovely girl wife, 
shows him in the fashionable short wig of the day which 
effectually conceals his own dark hair. His features are 
regular, the eyes hazel and full of expression, the com- 
plexion clear and dark, the expansive brow betokens 
intellectual ability, while the chin in its firm, strong contour 
is indicative of character and will-power. Grigsby has 
pictured him as he arose to address the Virginia convention 
in opposition to the ratification of the Constitution of the 
United States. "In an instant the insensible hum of the 
body was hushed, and the eyes of all were fixed upon him. 

[29] 



How he appeared that day as he arose in that assemblage, 
his once raven hair white as snow, his stalwart figure attired 
in deep mourning, still erect, his black eyes fairly flashing 
forth the flame that burned in his bosom, the tones of his 
voice deliberate and full as when in the first House of 
Delegates he sought to sweep from the statute books those 
obliquities which marred the beauty of the young republic, 
we have heard from the lips and seen reflected from the 
moistened eye of trembling age." 

Let us hail this august figure as one of the greatest on 
the canvas of our national life. Let us bow in humble 
admiration of an intellect so vast, a character so noble. Let 
us often turn our reverent attention to the lesson of his life, 
and having learned it well, do what in us lies to transmit 
its teachings to future generations, to secure to them the 
blessings of that liberty for which he labored, and to insure 
the lasting glory of this Republic which he loved. 



[30] 



APPENDIX 

Genealogy 

These scanty notes are taken from Miss Rowland's Iyife, 
to which those desiring fuller information are referred : 

The second George Mason married Mary Fowke, daughter 
of Gerard Fowke. 

The third George, their son, married Ann Thomson, 
daughter of Stevens Thomson, Attorney-General of Virginia 
during the reign of Queen Anne. 

The fourth George, their son, and the subject of this 
memoir, married Anne Eilbeck, of Charles County, Md. 

Their sons : 

(i) George Mason, of Lexington, married Elizabeth Mary Anne 

Hooe. 

(2) William married Anne Stuart, daughter 

of Parson Wm. Stuart of King 
George County. 

(3) Thomson, of Hollin Hall, married Mary Chichester. 

(4) John, of Analostan Island, married Anna Murray of Mary- 

land. 

(5) Thomas married Sarah Hooe. 

Daughters : 

( 1 ) Anne Eilbeck married Rinaldo Johnson of Aquasco, Md. 

( 2 ) Sarah married Daniel McCarty. 

( 3 ) Mary married William Thornton. 

(4) Elizabeth married John Cooke. 

The Portrait 

Soon after their marriage, in 1750, the portraits of Mr. 
and Mrs. Mason were taken by Hesselius, the early instructor 
of Charles Wilson Peale. 

They are now in the possession of Mrs. Jennie Cooper 
Dawson, a granddaughter of Gen. John Mason of Analostan 
Island. 

A copy of the portrait, kindly loaned by Mrs. Dawson, 
was made by Mr. Carl Gutherz of Washington, D. C. This 
copy was declared by good judges to be an excellent like- 
ness and worthy of the distinguished artist who made it. 

[3i] 



Entry of Marriage 

" In the Gunston Bible there is to be found, as the first entry, in 
George Mason's own clear calligraphy, the record of this marriage " : 

" George Mason, of Stafford County, Virginia, aged about twenty- 
five years, and Ann Eilbeck, the daughter of William Eilbcck, mer- 
chant, of Charles County, Maryland, aged about sixteen years, were 
married on Wednesday, the 4th day of April, in the year 1750, by 
the Rev. Mr. John Moncure, Rector of Overwharton parish, Stafford 
County. Virginia." 

In the same Bible is recorded, in his own handwriting, the 
death of his wife, on the 9th of March, 1773 : 

" Her funeral sermon was preached in Pohick Church by the Rev. 
Mr. James Scott, Rector of Dettingen Parish in the County of Prince 
William, upon a text taken from the 23d, 24th and 25th verses of the 
seventy -third Psalm." * * * 

Then follows this touching tribute to her memory : 

" In the beauty of her person and the sweetness of her disposition 
she was equalled by few, and excelled by none of her sex. She was 
something taller than the middle size and elegantly shaped. Her 
eyes were black, tender and lively ; her features regular and delicate ; 
her complexion remarkably fair and fresh. Lilies and roses (almost 
without a metaphor) were blended there, and a certain inexpressible 
air of cheerfulness and health. Innocence and sensibility diffused 
over her countenance formed a face the very reverse of what is gener- 
ally called masculine. This is not an ideal but a real picture drawn 
from the life, nor was this beautiful outward form disgraced by an 
unworthy inhabitant. 

' Free from her sex's smallest faults, 
And fair as womankind can be.' 

" She was blessed with a clear and sound judgment, a gentle and 
benevolent heart, a sincere and an humble mind, with an even, calm 
and cheerful temper to a very unusual degree ; affable to all, but 
intimate with few. Her modest virtues shunned the public eye ; 
superior to the turbulent passions of pride and envy, a stranger to 
altercation of any kind, and content with the blessings of a private 
station, she placed all her happiness here, where only it is to be 
found, in her own family. Though she despised dress she was always 
neat ; cheerful, but not gay ; serious, but not melancholy. She never 
met me without a smile ! Though an only child, she was a remarka- 
bly dutiful one. An easy and agreeable companion, a kind neighbor, 
a steadfast friend, a humane mistress, a prudent and tender mother, a 
faithful, affectionate, and most obliging wife ; charitable to the poor, 

[32] 



and pious to her Maker ; her virtue and religion were unmixed with 
hypocrisy or ostentation. Formed for domestic happiness, without 
one jarring atom in her frame ! Her irreparable loss I do and ever 
shall deplore, and though time, I hope, will soften my sad impres- 
sions, and restore me greater serenity of mind than I have lately 
enjoyed, I shall ever retain the most tender and melancholy remember- 
ance of one so justly dear." 

An altar-shaped tomb was erected by Colonel Mason to his 

wife's memory. On one side is the following inscription : 

" Ann Mason Daughter of William Filbeck 

(of Charles County in Maryland Merchant 

departed this life on the 9th day of March 1773 

(in the 39th year of her age after a long and 
painful illness, which she bore with uncommon 
(Fortitude and Resignation. — 
" Once she was all that cheers and sweetens L,ife ; 
The tender Mother, Daughter, Friend and Wife : 
Once she was all that makes mankind adore ; 
Now view this Marble and be vain no more." 

After his death the following lines found in his pocket- 
book were preserved by his daughter, Sarah (Mrs. Mc- 
Carty) — ending thus : 

" Alas ! what can the honors of the world impart 
To soothe the anguish of a bleeding heart." 

Indifference to Distinction 

He was a man formed by nature for domestic happiness. 
Some one reports him to have said that he was never en- 
tirely happy when out of sight of the smoke from the chim- 
neys of Gunston Hall. Edmund Randolph says of Mason : 

M How he learned his indifference for distinction, endowed as he 
was with ability to mount in any line ; or whence he contracted his 
hatred for pomp, with a fortune competent to any expense and a dis- 
position not averse from hospitality, can be solved only from that 
philosophic spirit which despised the adulterated means of cultivating 

happiness." , A • , 

■ Lot \*. 



[33] 



We add 

Some Comments of the Press on Miss Rowlands 
Life of George Mason 

" The general reader will find the charm of the book in its 
portrayal of ante-revolutionary and Colonial life. Gunston Hall was 
a fine old mansion on the Potomac, in a neighborhood thick with 
historic names. * * * The wonder is that such important work 
which has shaped the destiny of the Union could have been done 
with such simplicity and apparently spontaneous effort as one of the 
manifold duties of a busy man who was first perhaps a great landholder 
and then a patriot. — Hartford Courant. 



" It was these clear-minded, stout-hearted, resolute Englishmen 
who created this greater England of ours in the new world, and we 
owe it to ourselves, as well as to them, to know who they were, 
what they thought, felt, and did, for in knowing this we know what 
is best in our blood, and what we can never know too much of — how 
a great people was made. If we care for ourselves, we must care for 
men like Mason." — R. H. Stoddard, in N. Y. Mail and Express. 



* * * " Masoa was a type of these men, a civic type of the 
highest order, a Virginia planter, who was capable, like Jefferson and 
Madison, of drawing up a great State paper as well as of managing 
great estates successfully. * * * The career of this interesting 
Colonial and Revolutionary figure is followed with extraordinary care 
and minuteness by Miss Rowland in these two octavos." 

— The Critic, N. Y. 



" This work adequately depicts and sympathetically commemorates 
the life and services of a wise and busy man, whose innate modesty 
persistently veiled his actions. * * * Besides minutely relating 
the public offices of Mason and many of his illustrious contemporaries, 
this history reveals much of the grand home-life of those days. 
Those Virginia gentlemen lived ideal lives. Controlling the affairs of 
State with a wisdom and prudence that laid the foundation on which 
our Republic now rests, they yet devoted large time to social pleasures, 
the description of which, in these unromantic days, reads like 
romance." — N. Y. World. 



" This is, to begin with, one of those well-made books that it 
warms one's heart to get hold of in these degenerate days. * * * 
Then, too, this labor of love has not been wasted, as it too often is, 
on a theme unworthy of so fine a dress. George Mason deserves this 
stately and enduring memorial." — N. Y. Examiner. 

[34] 



" The subject of this elaborate biography was one of that illustrious 
group of statesmen who laid the foundations of the American Re- 
public. While Washington was indisputably the grand figure of the 
Revolution, it is not easy to select from the list of patriots a name 
for the second place. Adams, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard 
Henry Lee and Alexander Hamilton might any of them contest the 
honor of being next to him who was first. George Mason belongs to 
the same group of remarkable men." — Chicago Interior. 



" George Mason, of Gunston Hall, on the Potomac, is one of those 
founders of the Republic whose biography has been delayed too long. 
* * * His life and letters are especially valuable for the light they 
throw upon * * * the general policy of the State and General 
Government in all the important matters which then came before a 
people trying a new experiment and weighing in the balance of 
sound judgment all the chances. In this respect we cannot have too 
many biographies so sound, so full and satisfactory as this of George 
Mason . ' ' — Baltimore Sun . 

" In these comely and copious volumes, we have the biography of 
George Mason, of Gunston Hall, the Planter Statesman of the Revo- 
tion, an abbreviated history of his times, a collection of his writings, 
speeches and letters, so far as they can now be recovered, and a com- 
mentary on the political principles and opinions of which he was the 
distinguished advocate. * * * We have seen that in many of his 
political opinious, George Mason was far in advance of the common 
mind among his contemporaries. He had the large discourse of 
reason which looks before and after." — The Nation. 



[35] 



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